1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an X-ray CT apparatus, and particularly to an X-ray CT apparatus which is constructed so as to be suitable for an industrial application.
2. Background Art
An X-ray CT (computed tomography) apparatus is an apparatus for detecting X-rays transmitted through an object from various positions/directions and determining a density distribution of an X-ray transmitted cross-section by numerical calculation, thereby imaging the density distribution of the cross-section. The X-ray CT apparatus is mainly used in a medical diagnosis field. Research and development on medical X-ray CT apparatuses targeting human bodies as test objects have been promoted, and various kinds of medical X-ray CT apparatuses having excellent functions have been proposed at present.
Furthermore, in the industrial field, X-ray CT apparatuses are used for nondestructive inspection of metal materials, internal inspection of packages, etc. However, as compared with the medical X-ray CT apparatuses, the number of development proposals of industrial X-ray CT apparatuses is smaller. Through the investigation result of this applicant, many patent documents concerning medical X-ray CT apparatuses have been found, however, only Patent Document 1 concerning an industrial X-ray CT apparatus has been found.
In general, the industrial X-ray CT apparatus is designed so that an X-ray source 101 and an X-ray detector 102 are fixed so as to face each other as shown in FIG. 1A, a test object (sample) S is disposed at the intermediate portion therebetween, and also the test object S is rotated. Even in this construction, when the test object is solid such as a metal material, a package or the like, it can be freely rotated and thus there is no obstruction. However, the application of the industrial X-ray CT apparatus has been recently broadened, and the applicant has had a requirement of obtaining CT images of those objects which have not been hitherto expected as test objects, such as materials having fluidity such as liquid, and small animals which are not suitable for rotational operation.
The present invention has been implemented in order to meet the requirement as described above, and has an object to provide an X-ray CT apparatus that can obtain proper CT images of various objects without rotating test objects (samples) and is suitable for industrial applications.
Furthermore, the present invention has an object to provide an X-ray CT apparatus in which imaging magnification and resolution (that is, imaging area (FOV, Field of View) can be easily changed.